University fees free-for-all would hit poorer students

1 Oct 10
Unregulated tuition fees and a restriction on home student numbers at universities would harm social mobility, a leading educational charity warned today
By Lucy Phillips

4 October 2010

Unregulated tuition fees and a restriction on home student numbers at universities would harm social mobility, a leading educational charity warned today.

A study by the SuttonTrust found that fees at top universities for domestic students could rise by more than 400% if left unchecked. This is based on the fact that unregulated fees for overseas and postgraduate students at 20 English universities have soared in recent years, some to more than £20,000 a year.   

UK and European Union undergraduates are currently charged up to £3,295 a year for a course, but an independent review of higher education funding by Lord Browne, due to be published on October 11, is widely expected to recommend an increase in fees. 

The charity also warns that capping the number of home students and allowing universities to focus on recruiting lucrative international students could further damage social mobility.  

There has already been a huge increase in overseas students in the past 15 years. On current trends, non-EU residents will account for one in ten undergraduates and half of all postgraduates by 2015.

Sir Peter Lampl, chair of the Sutton Trust, said: ‘Any future finance system that deters poorer students from top degree courses because of spiralling costs and freezes on student numbers will be a double blow for social mobility. At the same time, we need to ensure that universities do not have a financial disincentive to recruit home students from all backgrounds.’    

The study, Increasing university income from home and overseas students: what impact for social mobility?, calls for financial incentives for universities to recruit poorer students. First year tuition fees for those from deprived backgrounds should also be waived to promote fair access, it says. 

The University and CollegeUnion said the Sutton Trust study backed its own findings that universities in countries with deregulated fees charged more. General secretary Sally Hunt warned: ‘If the funding review simply lists ways to squeeze more money out of students and their families then it will have spectacularly failed its remit.’

Universities UK, which represents higher education vice chancellors and principals, said in its submission to the Browne Review that student fee contributions should increase over time. But it added that the fees ‘must remain regulated and carefully monitored precisely so that it does not disadvantage students from poorer backgrounds’.

The government does not have to accept any of Browne’s recommendations, which will be used to inform decisions about university funding in the October 20 Comprehensive Spending Review.

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